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Distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) system prices dropped by 12–19% nationwide in 2013, according to the third edition of a jointly written report on PV pricing trends from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

After the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, the U.S. space agency, NASA, deployed its Earth Resources-2 aircraft to detect the presence, extent and concentration of the spill.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. held a rollout ceremony on October 18 for the MRJ (Mitsubishi Regional Jet), a next-generation regional jet. The partners say they are ready to proceed toward the MRJ's first flight scheduled for the second quarter of 2015.

NET Power LLC secured funding and project agreements to build a 50 megawatt thermal (MWt), $140 million gas-fired power plant that would produce no air emissions and includes what the North Carolina-based company says will be full carbon dioxide (CO2) capture.

Kamal bin Ahmed, Minister of Transportation and acting chief executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, says that $22 billion worth of infrastructure projects are currently planned in the Kingdom, and will cover various sectors.

Everyone knows that Tesla Motors Inc. doesn’t do things the same way as other automakers. However, the company’s unique approach to automaking runs far deeper than the Model S’s electric drivetrain, battery packs and futuristic body.

Qualcomm Inc. says it plans to acquire British chipmaker CSR for $2.5 billion.
This acquisition positions San Diego-based Qualcomm to expand its capabilities in the Internet of Everything and automotive infotainment by adding channels, customers and products, according to a Qualcomm press release.

Tesla says the first of its battery-swapping stations will be erected by the end of 2014 at yet-to-be-determined location between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For at least $50, customers will be able to trade-in a drained or low-charged battery for a fully charged one.

China opened the Jiaozhou Bay bridge opened to traffic on October 16. The bridge is 26.4 miles long and ranks among the world’s longest. It links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to Huangdao island.

Scientists from Tohoku University in Japan have developed a type of energy-efficient flat light source based on carbon nanotubes with power consumption of around 0.1 Watt for every hour's operation, about a hundred times lower than that of an LED.

In-wheel motors are nothing new. The earliest U.S. patent dates back to 1884 and detailed an in-wheel electric motor for locomotives. The concept was further developed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1900 when he introduced a wheel hub motor for an electric car dubbed the Lohner Porsche.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says it is pursuing a suite of initiatives to strengthen federal energy management through increased focus on measuring energy use in federal buildings and energy efficient building design.

The World Bank launched the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) on October 9 in an effort to bring together governments, development institutions and private investors to form public-private partnerships for $1 trillion in infrastructure needs over the next six years.

Staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) on October 8 for the Cheniere liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and concluded that impacts would be avoided or minimized and would not be significant.

As the technology of computing has evolved, the limitations of “classical” computers have grown more apparent. Many problems are so unwieldy they would take several times the age of the universe to solve. It’s becoming increasingly clear that more processing isn’t enough.